ALAN MULHERN: The Quest & Psychotherapy (Jungian Approach to Healing)

The changes in consciousness engendered by capitalism are outlined. But there is also a light of new vision in the modern age that seems as nothing as compared with the vast forces of global economic development, finance, industrialization, and information technology. These forces that have produced the contemporary alienated, rationalised, increasingly digitalised human being are currently reshaping humanity so that it is even further removed from nature  and seem overwhelming. Yet history shows us that vast changes in consciousness begin like a small light, a vision glimpsed by few, but increasingly felt by many.There is an emerging vision in the modern age which amazingly has been nurtured out of science itself, that sees the universe as alive and pregnant with meaning and consciousness, that sees nature as holy, that sees the human being as part of a spiritual development out of matter towards higher consciousness, that opposes the forces that are destroying us. Only by such visionary consciousness will we emerge from the precarious ledge we are balanced upon and move upwards to the next stage of our evolution.

An extensive list is explored  of the changes in consciousness brought about by the development of capitalism. This includes:The removal from nature. A material view of the world.  The increasingly rational and economic viewpoint. The abandonment of the religious outlook.  More individualism, less individuation.  An economic view of societal relationships.  A legalistic view of relationships.  Rational and bureaucratic systems of control.  Specialisation but fragmentation of knowledge.  Dominance of money relationships.  Greater education.  Wealth creation and enjoyment.  A vast increase in consumerism.  The impact of property ownership.  Technological reliance.  Greater freedom.  A change in the nature of the repressive apparatus within the collective psyche. Increasing dominance of the conscious over the unconscious.  Disenchantment and loss of soul. Nature is viewed as a completely exploitable resource.  The movement to a de-gendered human being. Informational capitalism – in which the consciousness of humanity is becoming fused with digital and virtual realities. The rise of artificial intelligence and the alteration of human nature.

In today’s episode I have decided to do something rather different. I have chosen a mythic individual at the start of Chinese history, the Yellow Emperor, and have constructed a poem using the story of  his retreat to the Mountains of the West in search of enlightenment at the feet of the sage Guangchengzi. This is one of the earliest stories we have of the search for spiritual illumination and its impact not just on an individual but on the collective which was in deep discord. I believe such a story, myth, or archetype is right for our time. The literary sources for Taoist philosophy are taken from The Secret of the Golden Flower, a book of great importance to Jung. There are also references in the poem to the I Ching, the Book of Changes.

The pause button has been pressed on the economic and financial crisis with the rocketing debts of many nations which by trading current stabilty against future danger will lead to a mighty financial collapse. Civilization decline in the West is explored in the Romantic poetry of the 19th century. The causes of the current pandemic are presented as the consequences of a  fundamental disconnection and unprecedented attack upon nature.

The Economic Crisis, the next horseman of the apocalypse,  is updated and explained. We are currently in a  pause as the underlying malaise is disguised by money creations and bail outs. But this only postpones and augments the crisis to come. # The post 2007/8 Global Financial Crash led to a new stage of capitalism in which massive government intervention in the financial system became the new paradigm # This was accomplished through cheap and abundant money, propping up of the financial system at all costs. # Moral hazard has increased enormously # Zombified companies have saturated the economy. # Stock markets have become disconnected fro the real economy # Inflation in asset and housing prices have been typical of many counties. # Increasing inequality # Paralysed or declining productivity growth rates # Astronomical and un-payable national debts which are ruinous for the future # Price discovery, the essence of the free market system has been substantially eroded   Useful links for this episode: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2019&start=1973 https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/publication/global-productivity  

Firstly. some key terminology is explained, such as Financialization, Quantitative Easing, Moral Hazard, Price discovery, Gosbankification, Zombies, Gales of Creative Destruction, The Danger of Debt. Secondly, a coherent narrative is given that is comprehensible to non-specialists concerning the recent history and likely future development of this financial crisis. It will also be of interest to those who have had a training in economics and finance since much of this does not prepare for this financial crisis at all. Finally, this episode explores the emerging role of Central Bank Digital Currencies which will be key to reshaping the world financial order in the immediate future.

Financial collapses have been at the heart of all major economic crises of capitalism and examples from the 1890s and 1990s are given, observing that they are growing in intensity and frequency. Examples from early presidents of the United States, Jefferson and Jackson, are given,  both of whom spoke loudly against banking interests believing that they were inimical to democracy. It is argued that financial crises have been severe since the deregulation of the banking system in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 things have gone from bad to worse. The present situation is that the major economies are not only hiding their chronic economic difficulties behind a financial façade of money creation and debt, they are also hiding their financial chaos and instability behind the same façade. You may ask then where is this infamous financial crisis that is so feared. The answer should be no surprise by now. We are already in it and have been so for a long time but its full force is yet to be revealed.

Of the ten horsemen of the apocalypse,  the pandemic, the financial and economic crises have been described. The technological crisis is now examined, in particular the relationship between technology and our consciousness, a matter of enormous importance to our own age. This and the following episode will have a number of items for exploration. Hominids that existed long before our species (Homo sapiens) and their technologies Early humanity and its technology The Agricultural Revolution Capitalism, the most technological of all economic system thus far in our history The contemporary conjecture, our point in time, where we stand on the edge of a transition which is almost incomprehensible, the extinction or transformation of human nature. Technology is and has always been deeply entwined with our consciousness and our human nature. They are systemically intertwined, mutually influencing, catalytically interconnected.

This episode considers our emergence as a species and the deep entanglement with technology from the beginning especially its interaction with the changing genetic structure and therefore with developing consciousness of the homo genus or lineage. Technologies also alter human identity by deeply influencing the psychology of distinct periods of the history of civilizations.

This episode outlines the thoughts of two major thinker on the subject of Technology and Consciousness. Firstly, Marshall McLuhan, a prophet of technology of the 1960s. who argues that technologies profoundly change our consciousness. Secondly, Iain Mcgilchrist, the author of The Master and his Emissary. An account of the different hemispheres of the brain is given and their impact on the changing nature of consciousness during the development of civilizations. Especial emphasis is placed in this episode on the connection between technology and the left hemisphere and the impact of this one-sided development.

En este episodio vamos a enfatizar el impacto personal del gnosticismo sobre Jung. Lo haremos a través de su escrito llamado: los Siete Sermones a los Muertos. Es este un texto sumamente personal y esotérico. Nuestro argumento es el siguiente: Jung experimentó una iniciación en su confrontación con el inconsciente; fue el espíritu gnóstico y la voz gnóstica lo que lo poseyó en su descenso durante los años 1913-1917. Los gnósticos vivían una tradición mística muy poderosa y tenían diversas ideas metafísicas y mitológicas que formaban un puente hacia los aspectos transpersonales de la psicología analítica. También su influencia personal sobre Jung fue inmensa, ya que él experimentó la gnosis a través de su espíritu.

Five articles and reports from very traditional and respected sources are examined. They all point to the extreme seriousness of the economic, financial, pandemic, and climatic crises that are upon us. These articles  are: Ruchir Sharma, “The two big reasons to doubt the global boom”. FT. 19th July 2021 Tuomas Malinen: “Inflation is here to stay, and it should worry everyone”. GNS blog: 15 July 2021 Martin Wolf “Why further financial crises are inevitable”. FT. March 19. 2019 Martin Wolf “The G20 has failed to meet its challenges”. FT. 13 July 2021 The Office of Budget Responsibility for the UK. Fiscal Risks Report to Parliament, July 2021  

First in a series on the contemporary spiritual crisis, this episode outlines the collective and individual dimensions of this crisis. It explains the metaphysical  position and personal experiences underlying this series. It ends with a poem from The Sower and the Seed entitled The Goal of Humankind.

This episode examines the two major economic paradigms of Laissez Faire capitalism on the one hand and the command economy on the other typified by the early communist experiments in Russia and China. It will point to the dangers of extreme Laissez Faire capitalism and also to the central reasons why a communist command cannot work. It will also explore the decline of religion and spirituality under both these systems.

We begin by examining the impact of Taoism, especially with respect to the influence of the Taoist book the Secret of the Golden Flower upon Carl Jung and his school of Analytical Psychology. We continue by considering modern China with a focus on Taoism which is one of its indigenous religions. What happens in this country is of immense importance not only for its size (over 1/6th of the world population) but also because of its growing importance. 

Este episodio examina al menos 15 puntos muy similares entre el taoísmo y la psicología junguiana, por ejemplo: Para los taoístas la "acción por non-acción" es para el psicólogo profundo occidental la liberación interna del dominio cognitivo; la importancia de lo femenino en ambas tradiciones; la “circulación de la luz” le recordó a Jung el camino circular hacia el centro, el camino hacia el ser superior; el movimiento circular tiene también el significado de la auto-incubación; las referencias al lado más oscuro en terminología junguiana está cerca de la concepción de la sombra; la creencia taoísta de que se podía lograr un estado iluminador encontraría su equivalente en el concepto de Jung de la experiencia del Ser. Numerosas referencias al símbolo del mandala en el texto resuenan con la creciente fascinación de Jung por el símbolo del Self. En el seguno parte del episodio examinamos el estado de taoísmo y otra religiones en la China moderna.  

The three most significant events in the history of life on earth are discussed: the emergence of life, consciousness, and self-consciousness. Science has no explanation of how these came into being. This appears to be an enormous problem which no amount of evasion can explain away. The crisis of the Self is at the centre of the crisis of modern times.

While the precursors of our consciousness lie in our animal and hominid evolutionary past its origins are in the intelligence of life itself and beyond that in the intelligence of the cosmos. This viewpoint requires a paradigm shift away from a dead and mechanistic universe in which the emergence of life and consciousness are accidents. The alternative vision is that the cosmos is intelligence or spirit itself and has an ordering principle or logos. Matter is no longer primary but coexistent with spirit. Intelligence precedes Homo sapiens, primates and indeed all life forms. It is woven into the cosmos and the emergence of life and consciousness are the expression of it as indeed is its evolution into higher forms. From a materialist view human consciousness is ultimately inexplicable. From the metaphysical perspective of immanence it is quite different: human consciousness is the living spirit of the universe.

The first four components of our evolved human nature are outlined. These are: Animal inheritance which is not just our aggressive and sexual impulses (the id) but the inherited reservoir of evolved genetic intelligence. Emotional structure: as life evolved instincts evolved into emotion. As the primate brain expanded a far greater and more differentiated emotional structure developed. Ego consciousness  combines rational intelligence plus a distinct personality. It is a master coordinator to allow the brain to focus and plan and is the integration of multiple brain functions so that a version of ‘reality', both subjective and objective, can exist. As Self-awareness develops in early humans, they became acutely aware of death. The ego is also the tool for repression of parts of the psyche. Homo sapiens became the world's first repressed creature. The ego, however, is also a vehicle of meaning in a world which possessed no conscious expression up to this time. Homo sapiens is the problematic embodiment of meaning and awareness in an animal. The unconscious. With the emergence of Homo sapiens the ego provided an automatic filter for consciousness which increasingly repressed impulses, instincts, and emotions. Three dimensions of the unconscious are relevant: the psycho-somatic unconscious, the emotional or personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. In the next episode I will continue with the essentials of human nature and focus on higher consciousness and the archetypeof the Self. Finally I will ask what, if any, is the purpose of human nature?

This episode explores the emergence of the Higher Self within the evolution of the hominid species. For example, evidence of care of the sick and dying in the our hominid ancestors over half a million years ago; burial of the dead with symbolic objects over 100 thousand years ago, cave paintings, sculpted earth goddesses and the like from 30 thousand years ago. It is hypothesised that the higher self and even love emerged as a transcendent response to the intense awareness of death, especially in Homo Sapiens.

Details on zoom course on Part 6 of the The Sower and the Seed  direct from thepilgrimquest@gmail.com  or from www.alanmulhern.com Nature, besides being benevolent, is also death-threatening and appears malevolent. Survival demands aggression. Destructiveness and selfishness are vital parts of our animal and therefore human psyche. Our savagery is infamous. Thus, we have the opposites of nature, the good and the terrible, within ourselves. These opposites in our experience of nature, the two faces of the Great Mother, the good and the terrible, are paralleled very closely by the psychoanalytic school of Melanie Klein which postulates (Klein 2003) that all human infants begin life in a paranoid schizoid state in which the good and bad breast alternate as fundamental structuring experiences of the infant psyche. This duality is resolved in the ‘depressive position' which would find its equivalent in the history of the species as the birth of civilization. Freud also postulated that life and civilization emerged and developed out of two polar forces – love and hate.

Having looked at the benevolent and terrible aspects of the Great Mother, and located this duality in the history of our consciousness, I now wish to explore the transition from the Great Mother to the Patriarchy, again understood symbolically and mythologically. Three to six thousand years ago patriarchal religions replaced Great Mother worship. The masculine became opposed to nature, the realm of the feminine, mythologically portrayed in the dragon fight. This is a fundamental shift in human consciousness and prerequisite to the advancement of patriarchal civilization.  

This episode examines the Book of Genesis, the great Judaic creation myth which has been also been fundamental to Christianity. In particular the famous account of the fall and banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is presented. The Tree of Knowledge and the eating of apple is the movement into consciousness; the banishment from the garden is the expulsion from the primal unity (nature, pre-consciousness, pre-civilization, the unconscious). The Serpent, as Lucifer, is the bringer of the light - the meaning of this name in Latin. This is in accord with Gnostic and Jungian interpretations. Genesis is a myth of the birth of human consciousness.

This episode explores the Book of Genesis, in particular the story of Adam and Eve: their existence in the Garden, the temptation to eat the apple from the Tree of Knowledge, and their banishment. It is interpreted as the movement into consciousness which inevitably is also into an awareness of death. A Gnostic and Jungian interpretation of this foundational myth of Western civilization is given. Human consciousness has indeed taken the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. However, if it is to reach the Tree of Life (the second tree in Eden that is forbidden), the human race in the 21st century will have to pass through the gates of death – either symbolically or literally.

This is the start of miniseries within the Spiritual Crisis of our Time in which I examine Jung's Answer to Job, one of his most enigmatic and fascinating books, written in 1952 and which was clearly of enormous personal importance to him. This episode: # explores Jung's own psychology, especially in his childhood, as a background to this work. # presents Jung's account of his religious and theological struggles in his adolescence. # gives a brief account of the story of Job as presented in the bible. # presents the question that Jung felt he had to answer. This series concerns a metaphysical exploration of nature of evil, the contradictions in the godhead, and the dangers to humanity in our own times.

Jung felt that God called on him personally to realise and experience God's own dark side. And this was the only way that he could experience relief and grace – God's blessing. The inspiration for writing the book was as if  he was composing the work of a Bach or Handel. There are a number of different voices that Jung adopts. He switches between them in a spontaneous intuitive manner in the flow of the text. These include: # The emotional Jung. # The therapist's voice. # The theological perspective. # The mystical voice. # The esoteric voice. # The Jungian psychology perspective.  # The voice of archetypal philosophy. # The historical voice. Jung moves between such different voices with little warning. He is using multiple views and perspectives with great speed and the reader can be left confused Perhaps when one knows the different voices then matters are a little more comprehensible.

Answer to Job has 20 chapters that formed a complex unity in Jung's mind. This episode will summarize the first 10 of these. Themes include: Jung is indignant at the injustice done to Job. The unconscious creator needs conscious humanity so as to develop but, at the same time it opposes this. The incarnation of God into man through Christ is a world-shaking transformation or objectification of God. God needs to become a man. The incarnation is not to make reparation for mankind's sins but to make up for Yahweh's damage to Job (i.e. humanity). Yahweh lacks a feminine side – the lost Sophia. Christ embodies the hero myth. The incarnation of Christ is insufficient to deal with the problem of evil. The belief that God is all good is simply not credible. The God image is a mixture of opposites.

In this episode I cover chapters 11-14 of Answer to Job. Jung argues that the emergence of Christianity was an attempt to create a totally good god. He focuses on the weakest part of the Christian argument, that which most reveals the dark side of god – the Book of Revelation. 

A resume is given of the episodes so far. Responses to the following questions are given: Q. Is God separate from us? Q. How can God be a personality as he mostly appears to be in the bible? Q. If the dualism of good and evil is contained in God then what is the point of the individuation process in human beings? Q. How can God be the archetype of the Self? Q. Jung speaks of the God in different ways in Answer to Job. Is he inconsistent? Q. How is it possible that God can be equated with the unconscious? Q. What does Jung mean by God wants to create man but not quite?

The penultimate episode in this miniseries on Jung's Answer to Job asks the following questions of this text: Q. Why is there no "real" history, sociology, or political science in the Answer to Job and indeed in Jung's work in general? Q. Are there other interpretations of the Answer to Job. Q. How unusual is Jung's interpretation? Q. Jung speaks of God in many ways. Explain further. Q. Does the theory of evolution change all bible studies including the Answer to Job? Q. How can God be the totality and at the same time be a specific component of the unconscious? Q. What impact has Answer to Job had on the practice of Jungian psychotherapy?

In this last episode of this miniseries I give Jung's main argument and its pros and cons. My feelings about the difficulties of the work are as follows: Firstly, relevance. How much can it offer the modern world? Secondly, isolationism -  its removal from the other analytic disciplines. Thirdly, certain inconsistencies which may confuse the reader. Fourthly, contradiction - whether the archetype of the Self is the totality or a specific archetype. Fifthly, the inherent difficulty of the text. Some of its strengths are as follows: 1: Its passion and tremendous personal conviction. 2:  Its roots in childhood experiences (visions, dreams). 3: Answer to Job has extra depth because of the number of esoteric traditions it is linked to. 4: Jung speaks with many voices, as it were out of the depth of many traditions. 5:  The audacity of the text. 6: Jung uses a new voice – that of archetypal psychology combined with mythology  and gnosticism. 7:  Answer to Job reinforces Jung's impact on the practice of psychotherapy. 8: Answer to Job has a deep theological critique of Christian and Judaic civilizations. 9:  Jung insisted on the dangers of an apocalypse in our times. 10: Jung insists on the overarching metaphysical dimension to human existence.

No matter what the crises of the collective the individual has the opportunity of realising the inner light that lies in us all. This episode explores the Taoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower which describes in an extraordinary manner how to access this light through the meditation process. The episode ends with a beautiful song The Turning of the Year by Mark Dunn of The Bringers of Change whose music albums can be found on Spotify etc. and as CDs at www.fallingarecords.com The free meditation programme following the Secret of the Golden Flower starts Jan 23rd. The Quest Lecture series (as distinct from these podcasts) starts Jan.28th. There will be no podcast episode in January. The next one will be Feb.15th 2023.      

This episode continues a miniseries on Jung's observations on oriental textsexploring his comments on The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation unknown to the West until its first publication in 1954. The next episode will examine his comments on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Like other of his commentaries, such as those of the I Ching and the Secret of the Golden Flower, Jung is here aiming at a building a bridge from an unfamiliar Eastern religion, in this case Tibetan Buddhism, to a Western psychology, namely his school of Analytical Psychology. For example he writes: “… the unconscious, for Analytical Psychology, is the matrix mind with the quality of creativity attached to it, the birthplace of all thought forms and akin to the Universal Mind of the Orient. These thought forms or archetypes are omnipresent and timeless ... By means of the transcendent function we not only gain access to the “One Mind” but also come to understand why the East believes in the possibility of self liberation. If, through introspection and the conscious realisation of unconscious compensations, it is possible to transform one's mental conditions and thus arrive at a solution of people's complex, one would seem entitled to speak of self liberation”.

The famous painting of the Tibetan wheel of life is in the grip of the Lord of Death. At its centre are two concentric circles: the outer shows the ascending and descending paths with souls in the death and rebirth cycle; the inner shows three animals, a pig, a snake, and a rooster which symbolise forces within human nature that perpetuate this cycle and are responsible for the suffering in life.   The pig represents ignorance, avidya, which is a basic misrepresentation of reality. The snake represents aggression which in the human species reaches a malignancy unprecedented in the rest of nature. The third is the rooster symbol – lust, desire and insatiable greed. These three are surely responsible for much of the darkness in the human species.   The Tibetan Book of the Dead can be used to guide the dying person through the experiences of consciousness after death, but it is also used during life by those who want to prepare for what will come after death. Liberation from the wheel of rebirth is actually possible in the after-death states or bardos.

Since mankind began to think morally the question of the origin of evil was a continual problem. We examine  some examples. We begin with the Ancient Egyptians and the Judaic tradition. Special focus is on the myth of Osiris and Seth on the one hand and Cain and Abel on the other.  The contribution of envy and malevolence to conflict and evil is noted.  

This is the start of a mini-series on the ecological catastrophe of the Anthropocene. In the first episode the emphasis is on climate but subsequent ones will explore other components of this crisis, for example the great destruction of  bio-diversity, otherwise known as the sixth extinction event. Can the attack upon nature be characterised as evil since it is a prime example of the destruction of Life and the Good? Can something of the magnitude of Business Civilization,  the first example of a truly global civilization, reform itself to the extent required to avoid catastrophe? Can a global leadership emerge that stops fighting and squabbling? Will a global totalitarianism be required and will this lead to a world dystopia? Can we rise to meet the scale of the challenge we face? Do we realise that what is required is not just some new inventions leaving our standard of living and way of life intact  but rather a vast paradigm shift and a change in our very thinking and way of life? Episodes will continue to  be released  around the 15th of the month.

Life has always been dependent on and deeply interlinked with climate. The earth passes through great cycles of glacial and warming conditions with enormous consequences for the promotion or restriction and even extinction of life. Hominins, our ancestors, adapted to changing habitats and climatic environments. The genus Homo, of which Homo sapiens is but one species among others, had an even greater capacity to adapt. Nevertheless many of them succumbed to extreme climate change. Homo sapiens with its higher level brain power, symbolic thought and language, wider social and trading networks, more complex tools and weaponry was the most able to manage the increasingly colder and extreme climatic conditions and consequent changing food supplies. So far. However the extremity of environmental and climatic change continues to our own period and we are reminded of Toynbee's acute observation that civilization has to continually manage its challenges or face extinction. The same applies to species. Our species, Homo sapiens, is now a global business civilization and despite all its creativity is in great danger. Climate change, often very severe, quite simply has been one of the biggest factors in earth history. And it has been one of the most powerful influences also in human history.

This is the fourth episode in this miniseries on the ecological catastrophe of our age. The GHG emissions targets are not being reached on time. We need to prepare for survival in a degraded world. There needs to be a spiritual vision to give us insight into the climate and other crises of our age. This spiritual vision should also provide guidance.  

This episode gives a review of Cop 28 which confirms the view that despite strenuous efforts of the United Nations, the IPCC, and many other institutes and organizations the world is politically and economically unwilling or unable to avoid climate catastrophe in the decades to come.  Mankind's economic short term interests triumph over reason and common sense. To prepare for a severely degraded world is a task totally other than what we have contemplated so far. 

The COP commitments are critically scrutinised.  Even if all its  pledges were kept concerning GHG emissions, the tripling of renewable capacity, and energy efficiency  improvements - and that is a tall order - the world is heading for a 10% increase in emissions by 2030, instead of the 43% reduction required to keep global warming under the 1.5 degree threshold. Following further research post Cop28 I see no reason to change my central warning: prepare for survival on a degraded planet. A new attitude on the global scene is noted - climate defiance. Arguments for climate denial are also examined and dismissed as contrary to the evidence.  The episode ends with a beautiful song The Turning of the Year by Mark Dunn of The Bringers of Change whose music albums can be found on Spotify etc. and as CDs at www.fallingarecords.com This episode is being released a few days early in the breather between Christmas and New Year. The next and probable final episode in this mini-series  will be Feb 1st 2024. Its subject will be the spiritual, mythical, and spiritual dimensions of the climate crisis. A free meditation programme following the Secret of the Golden Flower starts Jan 2  2024. Contact me at thepilgrimquest@gmail.com if you wish to join - up to 2 weeks late start is OK. The Quest Lecture series (as distinct from these podcasts) starts in April 2024. Syllabus on my website www.alanmulhern.com

The green climate agenda is going backwards. Fifteen examples from across the world are given. Preparing for survival on a degraded planet should be a policy with the status of a national emergency. Just focussing on one component of this crisis - rising seas levels - practical policy responses are put forward.

A mini series on Transhumanism Transhumanism divides into moderate Transhumanism which believes in an enhanced human condition, and radical Transhumanism which envisages a profound alteration of our bodies and minds, even to the extent of abandoning our biological inheritance and becoming a designed new species. Both visions envisage accelerating technological change. But humans are not in charge of their technologies, rather technology itself is in the driving seat. While the record so far of a highly improved human condition looks good, for example increased life span, as well as impressive increases in GDP and the standard of living, on closer inspection the contemporary situation looks fraught with difficulty and the world economy could well be at an inflection point. Thus, the moderate Transhumanism project would be stalled, even endangered. However, as further episodes will argue this does not apply to radical Transhumanism which  is set to proceed regardless of economic conditions.

Transhumanism believes in a transition of Homo sapiens into a trans-human and even post-biological state made possible by accelerating technological progress, for example Artificial General Intelligence. The recent emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) not only push the boundaries of AI but may also play their part in the Transhumanist enterprise. In reply to the question what are the dangers of such technologies to human consciousness, Gemini, one of the well known LLMs, gave a very frank and disturbing reply. All is revealed in the episode!

I review the history of the relationship of technology and human consciousness and explore the implications of the division of the brain into a right and left hemisphere.  AI Is not only going to take over most  jobs in the economy, it will take over our consciousness and we are surrendering it willingly. At root, having been convinced of the idea we have no soul and that we are simply code, we are wide open for takeover by forces we might otherwise be able to withstand.  And if I am asked what is the soul I reply: The essence of this precious life The seed upon the flower The scent within a perfume The light that is a star The freedom of the wild west wind The mist on mountain side The thought before you think She knows you from inside. The sweetness of the desert breeze You can't hold in your hand She's like the waters of the Nile She comes from other lands.

This episode considers the speed, extent, and dangers of the AI technological revolution. The dreams of radical transhumanism depend on this transformation. I  use 2 sources, both highly recommended reading: 1.  Megathreats  (2022)  by Nouriel Roubini  especially ch8. 2. The Coming Wave  (2023 ) by Mustafa Suleyman. The episode ends with a warning dream of mine about AI … An expedition of Western soldiers in India stumbled on an unusual tomb. It is like a big room which is guarded by a living demon, whom the soldiers decide to execute perhaps by burning. They walk backwards to the place of execution while the blue demon walks forward in a sinister, elegant kind of dance. A cautious interpretation is offered.

We examine  a very recent international report on AI safety. In the face of possibly the most powerful, disruptive, and existentially threatening technological revolution in our history regulation is notably absent. We stumble into the unknown.    

The archetypal roots of Transhumanism are explored. The Book of Genesis presents this in symbolic and mythical form: humans are caught in a dilemma between staying in the garden of unconsciousness or making a bid for freedom from nature and the unconscious though the awakening of self awareness and pursuit of knowledge. In doing this we become aware of death and are destined to attempt to overcome this trauma by seeking the tree of everlasting life – to become as gods. This is the metaphysical background to transhumanism which in its radical form wishes to move at least some humans to a post-biological state that overcomes ageing and death. However the history of utopias – and Transhumanism is definitely one - is that they have a dystopian underside. This can be even be presented metaphysically as a movement from the Luciferian to the Satanic. There is a Faustian pact at the origins of business civilization. The pursuit of Artificial Intelligence and the movement to Transhumanism are its consequences. The myth of Dr Faustus is explored.

Join Alan Mulhern as he interviews Richard Olivier, founder of Olivier Mythodrama and co-author with Lawrence Hillman of Archetypes at Work (2019). Exploring how archetypes—rooted in mythology and Shakespearean drama—can revolutionize leadership, organizational culture, and personal growth. Key highlights include: The Power of Shakespearean Drama: Uncover how mythological and archetypal elements in Shakespeare's plays illuminate leadership dynamics and human potential. Peak Performance and Inner Essence: Learn how embracing archetypes allows acting in to unlock authentic leadership. The Ten Archetypes Framework: Discover a transformative tool for understanding and developing leadership capacities and individual transformation. Identify your dominant archetypes, awaken dormant ones, and address shadow elements that may hinder growth. A Path to Growth and Resilience: Explore how balancing archetypes fosters personal development, strengthens organizations, and offers a lens for navigating the crises of our time. This is a rare opportunity to delve into the intersection of myth, leadership, and psychology, with insights that resonate across industries and individual development alike. Whether you're a leader, psychotherapist, coach, or simply curious about the stories shaping our lives, this conversation promises to be both profound, unique, and practical.

The ten archetypes underlying the book "Archetypes at Work" have an astrological basis in the ten heavenly bodies (including sun and moon) in our solar system - each with their archetypal nature and their influence upon human character and destiny ... "the planets are around us and in us". Dr Laurence Hillman explains how at birth a unique blueprint forms the basis of human character and this is laid out in the astrological map - the configuration of the planets at this unique point in time. Also explained are planetary conjunctions, oppositions and the like. Further explained are personal and world transits in which planetary configurations at later points in one's life or in the history of civilizations are shown to have deep influence. Aligning oneself to one's true nature is vital. A deeply informative and enriching interview.

Four examples of the earliest archetypal images, beliefs, and practices are given and for which we have hard evidence. These take us back many tens of thousands years deep into the last ice age. These are burial practices; images of the Great Mother; cave paintings, rock-art, figurines, and statues; shamanism. Their relevance to the contemporary world is indicated - a theme of great importance and to be taken up as this mini-series progresses.

The earliest archetypal images with an implicit mythological narrative are presented: The Venus of Laussel – the earliest great mother archetype with an age of around 24,000 years; and the Fallen Shaman in the Paleolithic Cave of Lascaux at 16,000 years ago. The former is feminine-coded (nurture, nature, reproduction, love) and the latter is male-coded (gnosis or higher knowledge obtained through the individual quest, sacrifice and transcendence). These two great archetypes, synthesized, are needed now more than ever for our crisis -ridden age.

An overview of The Crisis of our Times  series is provided; the ingredients of civilizational collapse are presented; future podcasts are indicated; the complexities of multidimesional crises are mentioned; a parable is given but the answer is not provided.

Este episodio explora aún más la contribución de Jung a la psicoterapia. Esto incluye la Función Trascendente, el enfoque sintético que tipifica la terapia junguiana, y la interpretación junguiana de los sueños. Este episodio termina con un ejemplo de cómo trabajar con el reino arquetípico de una manera junguiana.

La experiencia gnóstica que tan profundamente influyó a Carl Jung está disponible en las profundidades de la psique para toda la humanidad. Este ultimo episodio de Gnosticismo es en parte sobre mi experiencia personal. Me vienen a la mente las palabras de William Blake en su libro El matrimonio del cielo y el infierno que dice lo siguiente: “Si las puertas de la percepción fueran depuradas, todo aparecería a los hombres como realmente es: infinito. Pues el hombre se ha encerrado en sí mismo hasta ver todas las cosas a través de las estrechas rendijas de su caverna.”

El texto de El Secreto de la Flor de Oro dice que “solo a través de la contemplación y la tranquilidad surge la verdadera intuición: por eso el método de retroceso es necesario … al concentrar los pensamientos a través de la circulación de la luz, se puede volar; al concentrar los deseos, uno cae … el cuerpo como la madera seca, el corazón como las cenizas enfriadas". El texto refiere al proceso de circulatio y distillatio, como alquimia, uniendo los opuestos, creando la coniunctio, la unión de los opuestos, el niño divino, la psique transformada. El corazón celestial se eleva a la cumbre de lo creativo, donde se expande en completa libertad. Jung quiere hacer que los oscuros conceptos orientales de El Secreto de la Flor de Oro sean más accesibles e intenta mostrar su similitud con unos conceptos en Occidente, especialmente de su propia escuela de psicología que ofrece una puente de comprensión entre Occidente y Oriente “El centro de gravedad de la personalidad cambia su posición. Deja de ser el ego, que es simplemente el centro de la conciencia, y, en su lugar, se ubica lo que podría llamarse un punto virtual entre lo consciente y lo inconsciente. Este nuevo centro podría llamarse el “Self”. El Flor de Oro en sí es un símbolo de la mandala. Jung comenta: “La integración y el nacimiento de esta personalidad superior es el logro que se pretende en El Secreto de la Flor de Oro cuando habla del “fruto sagrado”, el “cuerpo de diamante”, o de cualquier otro tipo de cuerpo indestructible, es decir, invulnerable a los enredos emocionales y los trastornos violentos; en una palabra, simbolizan una conciencia liberada del mundo”.  

Dos poderosas corrientes de alquimia provinieron del antiguo Egipto y Babilonia por un lado y de Persa y la España islámica por el otro. Estos se unieron en el florecimiento de la alquimia en la Europa de la Edad Media. Después de la iluminación científica, la alquimia prácticamente desapareció. Carl Jung jugó un papel importante en el re descubrimiento de la alquimia. Fue llamado a este trabajo por su propio mundo de sueños, y pasó muchas décadas de investigación explorándolo hasta que descifró su significado psicológico y espiritual. Incluso descubrió que las imágenes alquímicas se parecían tanto a las de los sueños de sus pacientes como a las de él mismo. El trabajo alquímico se convirtió en el marco para su descubrimiento del proceso de individuación, tan central en la psicoterapia que ofrecía al mundo.

En este episodio vamos a: # Explorar la propia psicología de Jung, especialmente en su infancia, como trasfondo del texto Respuesta a Job. # Presentar el relato de Jung sobre sus luchas religiosas e incluso teológicas en su juventud. # Dar un breve relato de la historia de Job como se presenta en la biblia. # Presentar la pregunta planteada por esta historia bíblica que Jung sintió que tenía que responder.

En opinión de Jung, Yahvé, a pesar de toda su superioridad, no es consciente de los opuestos en sí mismo, pero Job sí lo es. Yahvé está obligado a cambiar y desarrollarse como resultado de su confrontación con Job. Así, Dios o el inconsciente necesitan de la conciencia para realizarse. Esto le da a la conciencia humana una inmensa importancia en el gran esquema de las cosas. En Respuesta a Job, Jung adopta voces diferentes. Éstas incluyen: El Jung emocional; La voz del terapeuta - ¡Jung psicoanaliza a Yahvé!; La perspectiva teológica - especulaciones altamente metafísicas y teológicas; La voz mística- por ejemplo, que Dios necesite al hombre para hacerse más consciente; La voz esotérica - se mueve hacia las creencias esotéricas gnósticas y cabalísticas; La perspectiva de la psicología junguiana; La voz de la filosofía arquetípica; La voz histórica. Jung se mueve entre las diversas voces con gran velocidad. Quizás si uno conociera las diferentes perspectivas, entonces este texto sería más comprensible.  

En el ultimo episodio presentamos la experiencia de Jung en su juventud con el inconsciente, que más tarde lo predispuso a identificarse tan profundamente con Job. Experimentó el “otro lado de la psique”, el lado oscuro de Dios. Esto fue como un trauma infligido por Dios pero también fue la fuente de su gracia. En este episodio cubrimos los primeros 10 capítulos de Respuesta a Job que incluye: Primero: La naturaleza contradictoria de la personalidad de Yahvé. Segundo: El tema de que Dios necesita el hombre. Tercero: Lo que le falta a Yahweh es un lado femenino. Cuarto: Jung busca la encarnación de Dios a través de Cristo, el dios-hombre. Esto resultó del daño hecho a Job por Yahweh. Cristo seriá perfecto. Satanás tendriá que dejar el cielo y ser arrojado a la tierra. Dios tendriá que entrar en la humanidad. Quinto: El mal todavía prevalece en la tierra. Sexto: La creencia de que Dios es todo bueno simplemente no es creíble. Septimo: La imagen de Dios es una mezcla de opuestos.

Dios quiere entrar en la humanidad pero este es un proceso contradictorio porque trae consigo su lado oscuro a pesar de todos los esfuerzos de la humanidad por limpiar su imagen y convertirlo en el dios de la justicia y el amor. Jung da más evidencia de un dios iracundo y destructivo de las visiones apocalípticas de Ezequiel, Daniel y Enoc del Antiguo Testamento, y el Libro de Revelaciones, el ultimo del Nuevo Testamento. Las contradicciones de Yahweh son responsables no solo de la creación del mundo sino del destino de la humanidad que debe vivir estas contradicciones de la deidad.

Jung había vivido las guerras del siglo XX y fue testigo del inmenso impacto de Hitler en las civilizaciónes alemana y europea. Se dio cuenta muy claramente, que con la realidad de la bomba nuclear, la humanidad ahora tenía los medios para la autodestrucción. Para él este era un escenario apocalíptico,  el lado oscuro de Dios expresado a través de la psique humana. En última instancia, Dios no es un ser separado, sino que es la realidad misma y, por lo tanto, también es la humanidad.

En este episodio queremos responder a las siguientes preguntas ¿Por qué no hay historia 'real' , sociología o ciencia política en el libro? ¿Qué explicación histórica podría ofrecerse para la literatura apocalíptica? ¿Por qué la interpretación de Jung es atípica? Como La teoría de la evolución cambia todos los estudios bíblicos, incluido la Respuesta a Job. ¿Cómo puede Dios ser la totalidad y al mismo tiempo ser un componente específico del inconsciente? Además, en el episodio de hoy contamos un sueño notable que Jung tuvo en 1920 en su visita al norte de África. Su interpretación del sueño es fascinante e ilustra material importante en la Respuesta a Job.

Este es el episodio final de la miniserie sobre la Respuesta  a Job de Carl Jung. Aqui presento un resumen de su argumento  y doy dos ejemplos de la relevancia para el mundo moderno. En primer lugar, su temor de un apocalipsis moderno. Sin embargo, el vio la posibilidad de un proceso de individuación al traer esto a la conciencia. En segundo lugar, la relación de este texto con la práctica actual del análisis junguiano.

Este episodio continúa una miniserie sobre las observaciones de Jung sobre textos orientales y explora sus comentarios sobre El Libro tibetano de la Gran Liberación, desconocido para Occidente hasta su primera publicación en 1954. El próximo episodio examinará sus comentarios sobre el Libro tibetano de los muertos. Al igual que otros de sus comentarios, como los del I Ching y El Secreto de la Flor de Oro, aquí Jung pretende construir un puente desde el budismo tibetano a su escuela de Psicología Analítica. Por ejemplo escribe: “… el inconsciente es la mente matriz con la cualidad de la creatividad adjunta, el lugar de nacimiento de todas las formas de pensamiento y similar a la Mente Universal de Oriente. Estas formas de pensamiento o arquetipos son omnipresentes y atemporales ... Por medio de la función trascendente no solo ganamos acceso a la Mente Universal sino que también llegamos a comprender porqué Oriente cree en la posibilidad de la autoliberación.”

“La descristianización de nuestro mundo, el desarrollo luciferino de la ciencia y la tecnología, y la espantosa destrucción material y moral que dejó la Segunda Guerra Mundial han sido comparados más de una vez con los acontecimientos escatológicos narrados en el Nuevo Testamento. Cristo es este mito viviente de nuestra cultura. Es nuestro héroe cultural que encarna el mito del hombre primordial divino ...La imagen de Cristo es el arquetipo del Self”. Sin embargo, el símbolo del Cristo celestial carece de totalidad en el sentido psicológico moderno, ya que no incluye al luciferino que está separado. El cristianismo era muy consciente de esto, pero lo llamó privatio boni. Significaba la ausencia del bien más que una realidad positiva por derecho propio. Lucifer corresponde al Anticristo, la mitad oscura de la totalidad divina y humana. En el concepto cristiano, el arquetipo de la totalidad se divide irremediablemente en dos mitades irreconciliables que conducen en última instancia a un dualismo metafísico: la separación final del reino de los cielos del mundo de los condenados". Jung: Christ a Symbol of the Self. Aion CW Part 2

Este es el episodio final de nuestra serie de podcasts sobre la vida y obra de Carl Jung. Este ha sido un proyecto conjunto entre el Instituto Venezolano de Psicología Analítica (representado por María Leonor de Planchart y Beatrice Rojas) y el Quest (representado por Alan Mulhern). Terminamos, como deberíamos. con las propias visiones y pensamientos de Jung al final de su vida, tal como se cuentan en los capítulos finales de Recuerdos, Sueños, Pensamientos. Estos incluyen: su experiencia cercana a la muerte; su posterior convicción de que la vida en esta tierra era como una caja tridimensional especialmente construida a la que llamamos "realidad"; sus pensamientos sobre la existencia después de la muerte; su conciencia de que esta vida era una proyección de una realidad más profunda; su convicción de que la civilización occidental necesitaba recuperar un ancla mitológica sin la cual estábamos perdidos; sus extraordinarias reinterpretaciones de la sabiduría, las religiones y las mitologías antiguas para reanimar el alma de la humanidad; y su creencia de que un amor profundo es la base del universo. Jung escribió: “Hasta donde podemos discernir, el único propósito de la existencia humana es encender una luz en la oscuridad del mero ser”. Pocas veces ha habido tanta luz en la oscuridad como la de Carl Jung.

En este episodio se describen los siguientes puntos de la psicología junguiana: La relación entre el terapeuta y el paciente. La importancia relativa no absoluta de la transferencia. Imaginación activa: la relación directa y creativa con figuras del inconsciente. Terminología esotérica junguiana y tradiciones de sabiduría: Opus, Telos, Nigredo, Hierosgamos, Coniunctio oppositorum, Enantiodrama, Entelechy. Una interpretación psicológica de amplio espectro de la mitología. La importancia de la sincronicidad. Arquetipos, ritos de paso, rituales, técnicas ancestrales.